Once an Addict always an Addict?
“I don’t want to die so why am I doing this” This was said to me by a client I was seeing who used alcohol to the point where he’d been admitted to rehab so many times he was being told if he didn’t stop he would kill himself. He was still drinking heavily and […]
The Miracle Question
Is there a part of me that wants to feel better? Even if it’s just ten percent or even one percent? If there is then your healing journey is all poised and ready to go. All it needs is your say so. All it needs is that first step on that journey for it to […]
Hypercapitalism: The Growth Hormone In Addiction
Integrative Counselling Therapist in Private Practice in Brighton & Maidstone As an ‘addiction specialist’ – and I put that in inverted commas not through any pompous pretence to claim to be what the tag describes, but rather to question its efficacy and plausibility – I should know all about addiction and how to combat its […]
The Ten Pillars For Sex & Porn Addiction
THE TEN PILLARS: AN EXERCISE IN COGNITIVE NEURAL RESTRUCTURING OR REWIRING SPECIFICALLY TO TREAT SEX & PORN ADDICTION by Bradley Riddell an Addiction Counselling Therapist based in Brighton and Maidstone This exercise is essentially one of repetitious practice to effect long lasting and automatic, instinctual change in our usual responses; which in this case are our reactions to stimuli that […]
Imago Dialogue: couples counselling in a nutshell
Couples Counselling Therapist in Private Practice in Brighton and Maidstone Couples counselling is for relationships that aren’t accomplishing what they once upon a time used to and both parties are feeling the strain of knowing that what they once had seems to be slipping further and further away. This doesn’t mean to say that both parties are necessarily […]
Three strategies to help us manage and overcome unwanted cravings and urges
1) THE 4 R’s 2) M.I.Q’s 3) THOUGHT LABELLING THE 4 R’s A FOUR STEP LOOP METHOD TO BE RUN AS AN INTERNAL DIALOGICAL PROGRAMME TO HEIGHTEN AWARENESS OF OUR TRIGGERED STATE IN THAT MOMENT OR MOMENTS OF TEMPTATION LEST WE FALL BACK INTO OUR UNWANTED NEGATIVE BEHAVIOURS THAT MASQUERADE AS DESIRABLE, COMFORTABLE, SAFE, SECURE AND OH […]
Tempering A Craving – calming the storm
Tempering A Craving – A Technique For Urges If ever you feel in the grip of a compulsive, obsessional urge & want to resist it but can’t seem to find a way here’s a technique you might want to give a go? Pre Frontal Cortex Our brain has a frontal cortex called the PFC; the Pre Frontal Cortex. […]
The Cycle of Addiction
Understanding the cycle Understanding the cycle of addiction is crucial to the recovery process for many. It is seen, for example, as the single most important intervention by men in a group therapy recovery treatment at the Marylebone Centre run by Thaddeus Birchard in Paddington, London. In broad outline, the “Cycle of Addiction” has four parts; Go […]
Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts: a “prn” checklist, read as required
WISE MIND: Nothing in life is risk-free – really, nothing. You can live with it or drive yourself nuts around it, it really is up to you. WISE MIND: Everyone’s mind goes everywhere. It could be interesting to watch. I have no need to stop any of it. Nor do you. Thoughts are just thoughts […]
JOURNALLING: MINDFUL NOTICING FOR ADDICTIVE ACTING OUT
PRACTICING, NOTICING & FOCUSING Human beings quite often become human “doings”. We often don’t notice that we’re not actually focusing on what we’re doing even whilst in the very process of doing it! We just do and don’t feel or be; we’re not actually present. Mindful Noticing brings our attention back to what we’re actually doing and can be very […]
